Know your poker terminology to know your poker game...
TERMS OF THE DEAL! Poker has its own language. Here are some of the lesser known terms for the benefit of the newbies among you.
Pulling the trigger: When you go all-in and you’re the short stack.
Pot Committed: Recklessly staying in a hand against reason and discipline because you’ve over-invested in the pot.
Boat: A full house.
Blinded Out: Finding yourself forced out of a game by the blinds.
Limp In: Just calling a bet and not raising in the hope of encouraging others to raise the pot for you.
Hooks: A pair of Jacks.
Buying the pot: Intimidating everyone into folding by placing an extremely aggressive bet.
Big Slick: When the hole cards dealt to you are Ace-King. Among the strongest hands you can receive.
Outs: Cards that can potentially be dealt to you that will make you a winning hand.
Represent the flop: When you bet as though the flop strengthened your hand.
Suited Connectors: Two sequential cards of the same suit (7 of diamonds and eight of diamonds or king of spades and queen of spades)
Effective odds: The ratio of the total amount of money you can potentially win if you make your hand- to the total amount of cash you expect to invest in the pot- either by betting or calling to continue from the present round of betting to the completion of the hand. Keep in mind that any opponent wishing to continue in the hand will have to invest exactly the same sum as you.
Implied odds: The ratio of the total sum of money you anticipate winning if you make your hand to the bet you must now call or otherwise invest in the pot to continue in the hand.
Pot odds: The ratio of the amount of cash in the pot to the bet you must call or the amount of money you otherwise have to invest in the pot to continue in the hand in order to see one more card that will take you from one betting round to the next.
TODAY’S POKER TIP Don’t enter a $1-$2 game of Texas Hold’em with $35. Always make sure your stack is more than ample for a good run. We see so many newbies run out of cash during $1-$2 games before they catch a premium hand. One good win at a ten seat table gets your money back twice over. Come prepared to finance your downside. If you’re funding is limited play appropriately and go for the 25c-50c option until you’ve built up a powerful stack.
